Railway-rail joint



(No Model.)

W. F. GOULD.

RAILWAY RAIL JOINT.

Patented Dec. 7, 1886.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

YVILLIAM F. GOULD, OF DES MOINES, IOWA.

RAILWAY-RAIL JOINT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 353,675, dated December7, 1886.

Application tiled June 30, 1884. Serial No. 136,371.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

-Be it known that I, WILLIAM F. GOULD, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, and a resident of Des Moines, in the county of Polk and Stateof Iowa, haveinvented an Improved Railway-Rail Joint, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention consists in the construction and combination of rails,railway-chairs, adj ustable fish-plates, and screw-bolts, as here'-inafter fully set forth.

Figure 1 of my accompanying drawings is a top view showing the ends oftwo rails, my chair, and one of my adjustable fish-plates combined andfastened together by means of screw-bolts and spikes. Fig. 2 is a topview showing one complete rail and the ends of two rails combined asrequired to prevent a continuous track from creeping. Fig. 3 is anenlarged view of the ends of two rails prepared as required to prevent atrack from creeping.

Fig. 4 is a transverse section of my chair and adjustable fish-platecombined with a rail. Fig. 5 is a modification of Fig. 4, showing achair and two adjustable fish-plates combined with a rail. Fig. 6 is aperspective view of the end of a rail having a scarf extending throughthe base, the web, and the ball.

Jointly considered these figures clearly illustrate the construction,operation, and utility of my complete invention.

A and B represent the abutting ends of two of my improved rails,in whichthe novelty consists in forming a scarf on each end of each rail in sucha manner that they will overlap longitudinally in their centers from topto bottom, so that there will never be a transverse opening entirelythrough a joint, as is the common result when they are contracted byfrost; and by thus scarfing the ball, the web, and the base of eachrail, a continuity of track will be maintained when the rails do shrinklongitudinally.

In Fig. 1 the ends of the rails are cut off diagonally and the shouldersand overlapping portions angle in reverse ways relative to each otherand extend diagonally across the center of the continuous track. Byscarfing the ends in this manner no independent lateral movement isallowed to either one of the overlapping ends, and each end of each railwill fit either end of any rail so formeda desider- (No model.)

atnm that is obtained by no other form of interlocking ends of rails inwhich provision is made to prevent independent lateral motion of theabutting ends to maintain continuity of track and to allow longitudinalcontraction and expansion.

In Figs. 2 and 3 the ends of the rails are cut off square and halved ina common way in such a manner as to produce a square shoulder in thecenter to accomp ish all the results of the scarf-joint shown in Fig. 1,excepting that the ends. of the rails can slip laterally relative toeach other and independently move in opposite directions relative to thecenter of the continuous track.

To cut off the ends of rails as required to produce scarfs or shouldersthat extend vertically in the center, I make cuts on the opposite sidesof the center and in parallel planes by means of saws, or in anysuitable way.

0 represents the flat base of my improved chair.

D represents an inclined plane extending along its edge and top surface,and adapted to support my adjustable fish-plate. In Fig. 5 each side ofthe chair is provided with such an inclined plane. In Fig. 4 one side ofthe chair extends vertically, and is adapted to engage the edge of theflange of a rail, and also I the under side of the ball of a rail. Thesechairs are preferably made from wrought metal by means of rollers, butmay be made of malleable iron or cast-steel.

F are conical perforations in the flat portions C of the chairs at thebase of each inclined plane D, and adapted to admit and retain anadjustable bolt. When the chair has only one inclined plane D, it isprovided with perforations on the opposite side of the inclined plane,to admit spikes, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 4.

G represents my adjustable fish-plate. It is elbow-shaped in itscross-section, and adapted to engage the inclined plane D of the chair,the top surface of the flange of arail, and the under side of the ballof a rail, as clearly shown in Figs. 4 and 5. It has conicalperforations H, coinciding with the perforations F in the chair.

To combine my adjustable fish-plate with my chair having an inclinedplane to support it and the abutting ends of two rails, as required toform a firm joint or splice,I slip the chair under the rails, or put thechairin position and place rail ends upon it, and then place thefish-plate .Heretofore chairs have had the semblance of inclined planesat their side edges and fi sh-- plates that engaged the webs of therails rested upon such planes; but my manner of forming an inclinedplane on a chair and combining a fish-plate therewith,s that the lowerand outer edge of the fish plate will slide inward and downward upon theinclined plane of the chair and its center or elbow inward and upwardupon the flangesof the rails, and its top edge upward relative to theballs of the rails, is novel and greatly advantageous while in contactwith the under sides of saidballs.

To adjust the fish-plate to compensate for wear and to tighten the jointwhen it becomes loose, I simply draw the nuts on the bolts J,andtherebyeause the lower edge of the fish-plate to slide downward on theinclined plane D, upward on the inclined surfaces of the flanges of therails toward their webs, and upward and outward relative to the undersides of the balls of the rails. The coinciding conical perforations inthe chair and fish-plate and notches in the flanges of the rails throughwhich the bolts extend prevent the bolts from binding as r they are thusmoved relative to the chair and elongated openings.

the rails to adjust the fish-plate.

To prevent a track from creeping I fasten every. other rail in acontinuous track firmly to the ties and allow each intermediate raillongitudinal movement. I accomplish this by making elongated notches orslots in the flanges of the rails that are to have longitudinal play,and pass the bolts or spikes that secure them to the ties and chairthrough the By making the notches or perforations round or square-andusing bolts or spikes large enough to fill such openings, longitudinalmovement is practically prevented in individual rails, and by having thealternate rails fast and loose in a continuous track the contraction andexpansion in each rail will be independent, and dangers and accidentsincident to thejoint movementand creeping of all the rails in a trackwill be prevented by .my method of fixing every other rail in acontinuous track firmly, and allowing longitudinal movement to eachintermediate rail to accommodate the expansion and contraction of themetal. In place of making elongated openings in the flanges of therails, they-may be made in one end of eachchair and each fish-plate. I

I am aware that lap-joints have been made by making verticallongitudinal cuts in K the ends of rails and diagonal transverse cuts atthe ends of the vertical longitudinal cuts, in such a mannner that therecould be no independent lateral motions of such abutting and overlappingends in a track; but cutting away the half of the web of a rail andremoving longitudinal sections of the complete rail produces alongitudinal and vertical scam in the track that weakens it, and

forming such joints also causes waste of material and more labor andexpense than mymanner of forming a scarf-joint that prevents independentlateral motions of the abutting ends of the rails. By making twovertical diagonal cuts from the opposite sides of a rail, so as toproduce a shoulder that extends di-- agonally and vertically through thecenter of the'base, the web, and the ball of the rail, there is no wasteof material except the metal removed by the saw, and when two ends thusformed abut in a track the short diagonal shoulders will not weaken thejoint or track, but each end of each rail will remain solid and thetrack firm. The diagonalshoulders in the centers of the ends of therails will cor respond in size with thewidth of the cuts made'by thestraight and square edge of the saw used to make the cuts.

I claim as my invention-- 1. A railway-rail having two parallel verticalplanes at each end. that extend diagonally from its opposite sides, andare connected at their inner ends and at the center of the rail by asingle vertical plane that extends diagonally relative to thelongitudinal center of the rail, to produce scarf-joints in the mannerset forth, for the purposes stated.

2. A fish-plate of elbow shape in its crosssection, having a plainbeveled edge at its bottom, and its top edge adapted in shape to engagethe under side of the ball of a rail, in combination with a chair havingan inclined plane on its top side and outside edge that will allow thebeveled edge of the fish-plate to move inward and downward thereonrelative to the flanges of a rail, while the top edge of the samefish-plate is in contact with the ball of the rail and moves upwardrelative to the rail.

3. A railway-chair consisting. of a horizontal base having a verticalextension at one side that inclines inward to engage the bottom of theball of a rail, and a plane on the

